


Jitters

by LittleMissWolfie



Series: After [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cultural Differences, Established Relationship, F/M, Humor, M/M, Possible Noncanon Character Names, Shotgun Wedding, Wedding Fluff, Wedding Jitters, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 19:52:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7727656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissWolfie/pseuds/LittleMissWolfie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance was scared when the bomb went off in the castle. He was scared when Team Voltron was separated because of the unstable wormhole. He was scared when Voltron faced Zarkon for the last time. None of these compare to waiting at an altar, in front of God and everyone, for his pregnant bride.</p><p>Or;</p><p>Lance and Pidge's wedding day isn't as much of a disaster as everyone seems to think it will be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jitters

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again, everyone! I'm pretty proud of how fast I turned this one out. This is basically a ball of fluff and nerves and I had a lot of fun writing it.
> 
> I made up names for Lance's entire family by using a name generator and selecting the German and Spanish name boxes. Though they aren't used in the story, I also borrowed my friend's last name for Lance's German side of the family, so Adalie's (Lance's mom's) maiden name is Sehr. If you're looking at the picture from the second episode, they are, in order:
> 
> Cecilia Rios (23), Uncle Fabian Rios (40), Grandpa Frank Sehr (65) Grandma Erika Sehr (64), Adalie Rios (45), Egilio Rios (43), Felix Rios (12), Aunt Kasimira Sehr (43), Aurelia Rios (9), Cassandra Rios (22) and Clemens (22).
> 
> And, finally, I want to say thank you to all the positive reveiws I got on the last fic, Beach Day, so thank you to breeisonfire, my old friend AlphaoDarkness, Ididntsignupforthisshit, Pokkit, and guest Cheshire. And don't worry, Pokkit, the grand ball is happening next! Once again, I'll have a question about the next fic in the end notes, so make sure to read them. I hope you enjoy Jitters!

“Bro, I love you, but you need to  _ calm down. _ ”

Lance doesn’t even respond, too occupied in trying to create a rut in the hardwood floor of the church room he’s waiting in. He’s wearing the same navy blue suit he wore to the End-Of-The-War-Thank-God-We’re-Alive party Allura and Coran threw in the castle to both celebrate and negotiate the Voltron Alliance, but his blue shirt has been switched out with a white one and his blue and white plaid tie has been replaced with a black bowtie. He’s surprised he hasn’t sweated right through it at this point, to be honest; he hasn’t been able to settle down since he woke up this morning. “What if something goes wrong?” he mutters, mostly to himself. “What if I trip? What if Felix drops the rings? What if there’s an objection?” A recurring thought pops back up in his head, making him freeze. “What if Pidge realizes she can do better and  _ leaves _ ?”

“Lance!” Clemens, his older brother, grabs his arms and makes him stop moving. He takes after their German mother with his pale skin and light brown hair, which is slicked back out of his face for once in his life. It’s strange to see him without his usual beanie, even more bizarre to see him in a suit and tie. “Lance,  _ chill.  _ You’ve been together basically  _ forever _ for you and she’s voluntarily having your baby. She’s not gonna get cold feet now.”

“Listen to Clem,” says Uncle Fabian from where he stands in the corner of the room. Fabian is like a buffer version of their father, but he’s also the most carefree man on the planet. Even now, on his nephew’s wedding day, He’s wearing Bermuda shorts, a green shirt, and sandals.  _ Sandals. _ Pidge may leave him just for his family’s terrible fashion sense.

“If Uncle Fab’s saying that, you know I’m right.” Clem looks Lance straight in the eye, serious in this moment when normally he’s lax. “Katherine Holt  _ loves _ you, idiot. She wouldn’t have agreed to marry you if she didn’t.”

The door opens and Hunk waddles through, looking extremely uncomfortable in his light blue suit that’s probably a few sizes too small. They were on a time crunch (because Pidge was “not gonna look like a whale in my wedding pictures, Lance Rios!”) so they didn’t have time to tailor the wedding party’s suits. “This is officially Pidge’s fifth trip to the bathroom and I don’t know if it’s because the baby’s using her bladder as a trampoline or if it’s because she’s nervous. And it’s making  _ me _ nervous, and I might puke during the ceremony. That’s cool, right?”

“ _ It is not cool! _ ” If Lance were in a more stable state of mind he would have been horrified at  how shrill he sounds. “You stand behind Pidge! If you puke,  _ she _ might puke!”

“What’s all this about puking?”

“Dad!” Lance and Clem chorus, whipping their heads around to look at their father. Eligio Rios is about a head shorter than his younger brother, with a receding hairline and a mustache to rival Coran’s. He’s smiling at his middle son with a wisdom that Lance desperately needs. He’s more formally dressed than Lance has ever seen him, in a pressed dark purple suit (missing a tie, granted, but they’re beach dwellers, so Lance didn’t get his hopes too high), but he’s still as warm and approachable as ever. “He’s freaking out!” Clem blurts, pointing at Lance.

Egilio laughs heartily, pounding Lance’s back with one of his large hands. “I was just as nervous when your mother and I got married. At least you don’t have to deal with a language barrier!”

“Like Matt doesn’t hate me already,” Lance groans. “If we couldn’t understand each other he would have killed me as soon as he figured out we were together.”

Clem is the one to laugh this time. “He doesn’t  _ hate _ you, he’s just being protective of Katherine. Can you imagine if you found out someone was dating Aurelia?”

Lance pales at the thought. “Lia’s  _ nine _ !”

“And Katherine was fourteen the last time Matthew saw her! Still too young for any big brother to be okay with her having a boyfriend.”

“Can we please save this conversation for a later date?” Hunk interrupts. “Your scary sister is having a glare-off with Matt and it needs to be resolved like  _ rightnow _ .”

Clem sighs. “Ceci. Of course.” He pats Lance’s arm reassuringly. “I’ll go take care of it. Cass probably needs help directing traffic anyway.” Cecelia was the oldest sibling of all of them, born an astounding nine months to the date after their parents’ own wedding, and was known for being a very intimidating woman. Cassandra, Clem’s twin, is almost exactly the opposite. She loves everyone and everything, and the only reason she isn’t the first to get married is because Clem is constantly hanging off her, discouraging any suitors from taking a chance.

“Great, thanks. Hunk, can you keep an eye out for Shiro, Allura, and Coran? I’ll feel  _ so _ much better when they get here.”

Hunk salutes in a way that is both sarcastic and serious. “Yeah, of course!” He hesitates for a split second before wrapping Lance in a bear hug. “Hang in there, buddy. It’ll all be worth it.” Then he’s gone, and Lance is alone with Egilio and Fabian.

“Dad?” Lance asks in a small voice. “How did you calm down before your wedding?”

“Well,” he laughs, “this may be a bit presumptuous of me to say, but I thought about my parents, and how happy they were with their marriage. I imagined your grandfather pacing, just like you are now, worrying about the same things you’re worrying about, and I compared that to his happy life with your grandmother, and I realized,  _ it’s completely worth it to be with the person you love more than anything in the world. _ ”

Lance closes his eyes and does it. He thinks about his father coming home from his work on the fishing boat and his mother rushing to the door to greet him. He thinks about how his father used to watch his mother sing him to sleep with a smile on his face. He thinks about his mother, pregnant with Felix, and how his father would rub circles on her  distending stomach to calm his little brother. Then he imagines his father pacing in a church back room, worried about their wedding, and how  _ dumb _ it was to even  worry. They were meant for each other.

It works.

“Thanks, Dad,” Lance says.

The door opens again, and Hunk drags Shiro and Keith into the room. They’re dressed similarly to Hunk, obviously, but Keith’s blazer is just a tad big around his arms and Shiro’s is the only one that fits just right. “Here’re your groomsmen!” Hunk says just  tad too loudly. “I’m gonna take Allura to Pidge’s room. See you soon!”

Shiro laughs, watching Hunk bolt from the room. “You’d think it was  _ his _ wedding,” he jokes.

“You couldn’t have gotten this a little smaller?” Keith gripes, tugging on his oversized sleeve.

“You wanna tell Pidge she has to wait for you to find a tailor?” Lance shoots back.

Keith pales. “Hell, no. This is fine.”

Egilio laughs and drags Fabian from his corner of the room. “Looks like it’s about time to roll. You need to be at the altar in five minutes.” Lance nods at them, and they both give him a hearty slap on the back before making their exit.

As soon as they’re gone, Keith sighs. “I was waiting for them to get the hell out.” He reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out Lance’s communicator. “Pidge wants to talk to you.”

Lance almost smacks the communicator out of his hand. He attaches it to his ear and says, “Pidge?”

“Why didn’t we just  _ elope _ ?” she replies, and he can almost see her fidgeting with her hair. “I feel like I’m gonna hurl.”

He laughs softly. They’ve had this conversation before during the wedding planning, and in the more recent days Lance was more and more willing to go ahead and do it. But, “Our parents would definitely kill us.”

“Not me. They want their grandchild.”

“Let me amend that: they’d kill  _ me _ , and then you’d have no one to raise your baby with.” He hears her laugh and thinks  _ Thank God, she’s starting to calm down.  _ “I love you,” he says quietly. “This’ll all be over soon, and then we have our honeymoon.”

“Two weeks in Spain,” she sighs.

“Then we get to move into our house and I start at the daycare and in a few months our baby will be here, and this’ll all be worth it.”

“You better be right.” 

“Lance, you’re up!” Shiro’s hand falls on his shoulder, startling him. 

“Gotta go,” he tells Pidge. “I’ll see you soon.”

\---

Lance was scared when the bomb went off in the castle. He was scared when Team Voltron was separated because of the unstable wormhole. He was scared when Voltron faced Zarkon for the last time. None of these compare to waiting at an altar, in front of God and everyone, for his pregnant bride.

It’s his family’s church, since the Holts aren’t overly religious people, and many of the people in the pews are those he knows well. A lot of them were surprised when they received invitations to his wedding because of his womanizing nature, and he’s certain they’re waiting for something to go wrong.

After what feels like  decade, Keith and Hunk begin their trek to the altar. He hears some of the churchgoers express confusion, and it give Lance a small amount of amusement. Then come Shiro and Allura, who looks as lovely as ever in her high-necked mint colored dress. Then the wedding march kicks in, everyone stands up, and Lance stares at the door.

His little brother, Felix, and sister, Aurelia, walk through first as ring-bearer and flower girl. His parents couldn’t wrangle Felix into a jacket, so he’s just wearing a button down shirt tucked into his Sunday pants. Aurelia’s dress is basically a miniature version of Allura’s and she’s scattering white petals on the wine-red carpet of the sanctuary. Time crawls to a halt and Lance waits for Pidge.

Finally,  _ finally, _ the sanctuary doors open once again, and Pidge and Commander Holt begin their walk down the aisle. 

Her dress is shorter than a usual wedding dress, coming to her knees in the front and slightly longer in the back. It’s off white lace, very simple, and sleeveless, allowing her more comfortable movement. Her stomach is just barely visibly rounded under the waistband; to anyone that didn’t know she was pregnant, she might have just had a big lunch. She’d been bragging about it the previous week. “One of the perks of being tiny, I guess,” she said, curled up against Lance in his childhood room. She’s not wearing a veil (“Dumb tradition,” she’d said. “Dates back to arranged marriages. They didn’t want the groom to decide the bride was ugly and run off before the vows.”) There wasn’t much to do with her hair, so it looks like little flowers have been woven in the shape of a crown in her short locks instead. Her bouquet is a simple arrangement of daisies wrapped in light blue paper.

She looks stunning.

It’s all Lance can do to keep from running down the aisle to meet them, to take Pidge into his arms and never let her go. He’s struck with the thought  _ This woman, this incredible woman, is having my child. She loves me, she’s going to spend the rest of her life with me. What did I do to deserve her? _

When she and Commander Holt finally reach him, Commander Holt shakes his hand. “Congratulations,” he says. “Treat her right.”

And what can he say to that? He just nods at him instead of voicing his thoughts, throat tight, and turns his attention back to Pidge. “You look beautiful,” he tells her, not even paying attention to Commander Holt as he walks away to sit next to his wife. 

She smiles at him and he feels like a god. “You don’t look too bad, yourself.” When he reaches for her, she steps back, grinning. “Keep your hands to yourself. We have a wedding to get on with.” She hands her bouquet to Allura and nods at the minister, who begins his unnecessarily long speech.

“Do we have the rings?” the minister eventually asks, causing Lance to throw a look at Felix, who fishes the two identical, titanium rings from his pocket. Pidge refused a fancy ring, and titanium was the cheapest option for their budget. The minister smiles. “Good. Shall we move on to the vows?” When no one objects, his smile becomes bigger. “Great! We’ll start with Lance.”

Lance takes a deep breath. Neither of them wanted to write their own vows (Lance because he knew he’d either sound like an idiot or cry, Pidge because she thought she’d mess up) so they each memorized traditional vows instead. “I, Lance, take you, Katherine, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.” When he looks in her eyes, he’s surprised to see tiny tears forming in their corners. 

“I, Katherine,” she begins, “take you, Lance, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in  sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.” And he understands why she’s about to cry, because he is, too.

The minister looks at Felix. “May we have the rings?”

Felix puffs his chest out proudly and hands Lance both rings. Lance, in turn, gives Pidge the bigger one. “You may exchange rings,” the minister adds unhelpfully.

Swallowing, Lance takes Pidge’s left hand in his own. “With this ring,” he says, sliding the ring on her finger, “I thee wed.”

“With this ring,” she echoes, doing the same with his ring, “I thee wed.”

The minister’s booming voice brings them back to the room. “By the power vested in me by God and the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife!” Then, giving Lance a knowing look, continues, “You may kiss the bride.”

Lance waggles his eyebrows at Pidge, making her laugh, and bends down to kiss her. He keeps it chaste (well, as chaste as he can; his mother insisted on sending Pidge to stay with her family in their hotel last night as per tradition, so he hasn’t seen her since yesterday afternoon and he’s severely lacking in her affections) so as not to offend any of the congregation, though he lingers a bit longer than strictly necessary. He’s pretty sure no one pays attention to the minister’s closing remarks; he sure doesn’t, too occupied with his hand on Pidge’s waist, just over the spot where their child is growing. This is his family.

\---

After what Lance considers to be too many pictures, the wedding party heads to the reception on the beach. The guests have been there for a while and he’s pretty sure Clem and Cass are already drunk when they arrive. It’s a little surreal to Lance to see humans and aliens interacting peacefully, and he squeezes Pidge’s sweaty hand.

The DJ, a duck-like alien they met on a planet where everyone sings instead of speaks, notices them immediately and calls them out. “Theeee Paaladinns have arriiiived!” he sings in an extremely hammy manner, and everyone turns to stare. “Nooooow, I belieeeeve it’s trrradition fooor the nnnnnnewlyweeeeds to haaaave the firrrrst daaaaance!”

The guests applaud and cheer at the suggestion. Lance laughs and twirls to face Pidge, offering her his arm. “Shall we dance?”

“Only because you asked so nicely,” she quips, taking his arm and letting him drag her to the makeshift sand dancefloor. On the way, she sheds her high heels letting her toes curl in the warm sand.

The song they picked for the dance is one from the 2010’s, by some girl group his sisters introduced him to before he went into the Garrison. Most of the songs they wrote are peppy pop tunes about either female empowerment, sex, or both, but the one they picked is a slower, more romantic song from their second album. 

Without her heels, Pidge’s hands are barely able to meet behind his neck, and he’s not about to make her stretch so he lets himself slouch  little as he wraps his arms around her waist. They dance like awkward middle schoolers in their first slow dance, but Lance can’t bring himself to care. He’s dancing with his  _ wife, _ the woman he loves, the mother of his child, and that’s all that matters.

By the end of the first chorus, other couples have begun dancing as well. Over Pidge’s head he sees Shiro and Allura, who are putting off their own wedding until Pidge is cleared for space travel again. He sees his parents, who he caused so much pain those four years they thought he was dead. He sees Pidge’s parents,  who missed their daughter grow up and fall in love, and who are now giving their daughter away to a boy they’ve only known for a year. He sees Hunk, who’s teaching Shay how to dance, and he’s glad Hunk found someone that doesn’t need sex. Several couples in the congregation begin dancing, as well, and Lance finally realizes he doesn’t see Keith.

\---

After the song ends, it’s time for speeches and toasts. Even though Lance just recently turned twenty-one, he’s drinking sparkling cider to show support for Pidge, who is drinking the same, both because of her age and the baby. While normally only the best man and maid of honor would make speeches, each of their friends has something to say.

Hunk goes first, though his heartwarming speech about their friendship and trust and how much he loved them was rendered almost unintelligible through his tears. Pidge pats his shoulder and promises Lance she’ll read him the transcript later so he can understand. Keith’s is awkward and parts of it are passive aggressive, but Lance grins broadly at just how like him it was. Allura’s speech is filled with strange Altean idioms and the only part anyone (aside from Coran, who’s an absolute mess) can understand is the last bit: “Pidge is my best friend and my sister, and I’m so proud to be here with her on this special day.”

“I knew Katie’s father and brother through the Garrison,” Shiro begins, “and, boy, did they have some stories to tell!” Polite laughter scatters across the guests. “If you took their words for it, Katie was this tiny, polite, intellectual little girl who also dreamed of being in the stars. When I met Katie a year later, she was pretending to be a boy.” There’s more laughter, and Pidge buries her face in her arms. “She wasn’t the same as their descriptions. She had spunk and attitude and determination and a mouth so bad I had to make a swear jar. Lance, on the other hand, was a flighty womanizer.” There’s a noise of agreement from someone from the church. “Yep. When I met them, I had no idea of what they would become. I had the pleasure of watching them grow up. I had the pleasure of watching their love story unfold before my eyes. Now, though I can confidently say that Lance and Katie are  _ meant _ for each other. They complement each other in a way I’ve never seen before. Their number one priorities are always each other, no matter what. Lance relaxes Katie, and Katie keeps Lance grounded. I know they’re going to be happy for the rest of their lives together. And,” he adds, pointing at them, “I’d better be the godfather.” The gathered tables roar with laughter, as do Pidge and Lance. He lifts his champaign flute and raises it. “To Katie and Lance!”

“To Katie and Lance!” the guests echo.

\---

After most of the crowd is done eating, the partying recommences. Lance ends up dancing with Grandma Erika, Aunt Kassmira, his mother, and all three of his sisters before he’s freed up to go look for Pidge again. When he finds her, she’s talking to Keith, and when he draws close enough to hear their conversation, he grins.

“I think you should ask Matt to dance,” she’s telling him.

Keith goes red. “W-what?”

Pidge laughs, patting his shoulder in a sisterly way. “Oh, please, like you’re not completely obvious. You’ve got good taste. Besides, he thinks you’re hot, and you deserve some happiness.”

“You already sound like a mom,” Keith teases.

“Then you’d better do what I say, because moms are always right.” She gives him a shove. “Go. Be happy.”

He smiles, a small but genuine one, and does as she bids.

As soon as he’s gone, Lance wraps his arms around her from behind. “Hello, Missus Rios,” he murmurs, bending to press his lips to her temple. “Doing some matchmaking?”

She sighs and leans back into him. “I’m just tired of them dancing around each other. Besides, you’re the one that keeps saying they need to get laid.”

“But if it works out, Keith’s gonna be around all the time!” he whines.

“Like he isn’t already?” she shoots back. “Besides, wouldn’t you want someone to try to hook us up with each other if we weren’t together?”

“I guess,” he says playfully, earning a slap on the arm. “Yeah, I would. I would fall in love with you a million times if I could.”

She hums in the back of her throat. “If you get all sappy on me, I might start crying.”

“Oh, we can’t have that, can we? This is supposed to be the happiest day of our lives.”

“Do you want to know what would make me happy?”

“Name it and I’ll make it happen.”

She turns her head up to look at him. “I want a kiss from my husband.”

_ Husband _ . The way the word falls from her lips makes his heart want to explode. He’s her husband. She’s his wife. They’re  _ married. _ He smiles, and he knows he has a dopey look on his face, but he doesn’t care. “I  think that can be arranged,” he says leaning down to press his lips to hers.

\---

“Lance, I swear to God--”

Lance cuts off his bride’s words by shoving a forkful of cake into her mouth. He’s purposefully messy with it, getting icing all over her face in the process. She shrieks indignantly once she’s swallowed and, instead of even pretending to feed him, rubs her plate of cake in his face. It’s made only funnier by the way she has to jump to reach it comfortably. The assembled guests laugh at their antics.

Coran appears out of nowhere, teary eyed and holding two towels. “Your Earth traditions are strange, yet charming,” he says, handing each of them one of the towels. “Oh, I remember the day King Alfor married Allura’s mother. The entire planet wept.”

“I’m surprised we managed to avoid the press,” Pidge says after she’s cleaned her face.

Lance laughs. There’s still cake and icing all over his face when he says, “I can see the headlines now! ‘Paladins Married in Shotgun Wedding!’”

Coran tilts his head. “What is a shotgun wedding?”

“It’s a term for a wedding when the bride is pregnant,” Pidge explains, yanking the towel from Lance’s hands and getting up on her tiptoes to clean his face for him. “It’s a term from years ago, when a father would threaten the father of the baby to marry the pregnant girl to preserve her good name. A  baby born out of wedlock is usually looked down upon, as is the mother, so it’s kind of a big deal.” Satisfied his face is clean, Pidge presses her lips to his cheek and lets herself lower to her normal height.

“We don’t have anything like that on Altea,” Coran says. “It’s simply impossible for a woman to get pregnant until her soul has been bonded to her husband’s.”

“Alteans bond souls?” Lance asks.

“Oh, yes, it’s a beautiful ceremony! They both make a small incision on their palm and clasp hands, letting their lifeblood mingle. I’m sure Allura and Shiro’s will be as amazing as her parents’ before her.”

“Huh…” Lance can tell Pidge is interested to see how that plays out; he can almost see the wheels turning in her head.

“After seeing an Earth ceremony, we may include some of your traditions! It will symbolize the merging of two cultures! Oh, I can already see the historical significance it will have for future Alteans!”

The DJ’s voice rings out once more. “Nnnnnowwww, foooorrr the laassst eeeeeeeeeevent of the niiiiiight, caaaaannnn IIIIII asssssk the briiiiiide toooooooo commmmmeee uuuuup toooooo the staaaaaaage?”

“Bouquet toss,” Pidge groans. She untangles herself from Lance and makes her way to the stage.

“What’s the purpose of throwing her flowers?” Coran asks.

“It’s a tradition,” Lance says. “All the unmarried women--people, in this case--gather in the center of the room and the bride closes her eyes and throws the bouquet. Whoever catches it is supposedly the next to get married.”

“Oh! I suppose  _ I _ should go out there, too!”

Lance laughs. “Sure, Coran, you do that.” The Altean takes off at an impressive speed and dives into the crowd of hopefuls. He watches from afar as the bouquet of daisies arcs above Pidge’s head, tracking  its movement as it begins its descent. Allura catches it, not surprising him at all. Pidge’s muscle control was so finely-tuned that she probably planned for her maid of honor to catch it the whole time. 

Once the applause dies down, Lance hops onto the stage and pulls Pidge into his side. “We’d love to stay and chat,” he calls to the crowd, “but my beautiful wife and I have a plane to catch!” Amidst the whoops and hollers, he leans down to whisper in her ear. “You ready to go, Mrs. Rios?”

“If you’re coming with me, Mr. Rios,” she replies in kind. He grins and leans down to kiss her on the lips, only making the crowd cheer more, and links their hands. Together, as one, they take their first steps to their future.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in less than a day, so if you spot any spelling, grammar, or continuity mistakes within this series, please let me know and I'll change it right away.
> 
> Now, concerning the next fic, I have a sort of challange for you. The first review to correctly identify either the group or the song for the first dance will decide whether or not the next fic will be explicit. See, the grand ball is where Pidge and Lance had sex for the first time. If the fic is explicit, the smut will be completely contained in the final part of the work, so you will be able to ignore it. If no one can identify the group or the song, I will be the one to decide. Happy hunting!
> 
> I hope to see you again soon!


End file.
